Monday, December 26, 2005

The supreme commander of the Yuchi Indian nation,whose name is Kipahalgwa

The ships London Merchant and the Simonds passing the Isle of Wight as the Salzburgers sail to Georgia in the fall of 1735(sic)

In 1731 the Protestant community of Salzburg was expelled by the Catholic heirarchy which came to the attention of the British House of Commons. As part of the colonial settlement arrangements organized for Georgia, the refugees were brought to America in 1734.

Their voyage and establishment of a settlement (Ebenezer) was overseen by a Bavarian nobleman, Baron Philip von Reck, who kept a journal and sketchbook relating to his travels to Savannah and beyond.

Many of the sketches depicted plant and bird species from the Georgia environs for the first time. von Reck also contributed to the knowledge about the customs and dress of the local natives. Although there is little biographical detail about von Reck online, he is said to have acquired anti-slavery beliefs after travelling further around the then American colonies and meeting with church and governement officials.

I think his journal was edited and published soon after Ebenezer was founded but a further annotated extract with some sketches was released in 1980 (Hvidt, Kristian [Ed.] - Beehive Press)